The Turkish coast is so beautiful. We spent two nights in a beach town called Didim. Didim is on a peninsula about 100 miles south of Izmir. Thousands of people from the U.K. have purchased summer homes there. We visited at the very end of the tourist season. Most of the shops and restaurants were in the process of shutting down. The major tourist attraction nearby was the Temple of Apollo, but we decided to relax by the beach. We strolled around the brick walk and rented some beach chairs for an afternoon. The water was cool, but warm enough to swim. We liked that it wasn’t too crowded.

Where we stayed:
We spent two nights at Arden Apart Hotel, which was so refreshing after our last hotel. This place was clean, had a nice view of the water, and had a gazillion TV channels.

Where we ate:
We ate at Nigel’s the first night. It was okay, but overpriced. We ate twice at Ikbal’s Restaurant: once for coffee and a yummy fruit cake and again for dinner. David had an excellent steak and I had some delicious calamari. Ikbal’s has an interesting approach for being in Turkey; they call themselves a no-hassle restaurant. They don’t bug you to come inside and don’t pressure you to order more.

After our two nights in Didim, we headed back north!